Man's Best Friend
by AwesomeTrinket
Summary: In which Yuffie gets a dog and names him Matt, for Materia.


_Me: I've finally beat Sephiroth after 2 months of playing FF7, now I can catch up on my other fanfictions_

_Me to me: write your own FF7 stuff_

_Hi everyone, I did the thing again where I take on another project on my plate of projects that's probably stacked so high it can reach the ceiling. In my defense though, at least this one was a quick one-shot to get a feel of the FF7 crew, so I just needed to write this and be done with it. I could not get this out of my head until I wrote this, so…you all asked for this? I guess? Despite the fact no one told me to do this. _

_So this is also my first time writing FF7 characters in general, and I'm trying my best to stay in-character to the crew, but don't be afraid to point out anything that doesn't feel right. I'm always looking to learn more and get better at this!_

_ALSO – UM? I HAVE BEEN OBSESSED WITH THE FF7 FIC "Journey" BY RAPHAELLA AND? WHY IS IT SO GOOD? 11/10 WOULD RECOMMEND FOR ANY CID FANS LIKE ME_

_With that said, I am so sorry._

* * *

**Man's Best Friend**

Cid had just dragged a now-unconscious Cloud out of the submarine and onto the shore when Yuffie emitted a high-pitched squeal that could shatter windows. He whirled around on one heel, Venus Gospel in the hand that wasn't holding the bedraggled blond boy by the collar. Honestly, he had no idea what to anticipate, but it was _not_ a scene of Yuffie having ditched the Conformer and was now running around in circles with –

Oh god. She had a dog with her.

"I LOVE HIM! HE'S SO _CUTE!_" Yuffie let out anther squeal that nearly made Cid drop the spear and Cloud to block his ears. Cid never understood why so many people liked dogs. They were loud, got fur everywhere, and tended to bite. Just having Nanaki around was enough for him; having a smelly, furry beast that looked like it had permanently stained its white fur with mud was a _hard_ no.

"Yuffie!" Cid barked. "Get away from that damn thing before it gives ya rabies!"

"I'm gonna name him Matt!" She yelled back, arms outstretched like she was pretending to be an airplane. "It's short for Materia!"

Of course it was. Cid had absolutely no idea why Cloud and the rest of AVALANCHE had agreed to bring Yuffie along with them on their great quest to fight Sephiroth. There was the whole fiasco with her stealing all their Materia and running off to Wutai – that took a whole two days to get 'em back from that slippery eel – and her chaotically stupid nature. Cid _wished_ that this sudden adoption of a dog was the dumbest thing that Yuffie had done.

Yuffie refused to give up that dog, despite Cid trying to reason with her (yes, Cid Highwind attempting to actually talk sense into Yuffie) so it followed her as she went, staying close to her heels. That didn't mean it didn't stop to bark at birds every five minutes, or at least it felt like five minutes. Many times Yuffie had to pull him away from small rodents and birds and go running off. Cid wasn't ashamed to admit that he was tempted to stop her and let him run away.

And to plant the cherry on this sundae of pain and suffering, apparently Cid had a dog allergy, so now he was stuck sneezing every two seconds while carrying Cloud back _and_ trying to fight off the wild monsters all at the same time.

"Matt! Matt! Mattie! C'mere, Mattie!" Yuffie cooed, patting her knees audibly. Matt, the little suck-up, came right to her, and as a reward Yuffie started rubbing the sides of his head and scratching the backs of his ears. "Awww, good boy! Good boy! Whoza good boy? You are, you are!"

Cid needed a smoke. And a beer. Preferably five.

The walk back to Junon was a mercifully short one. Matt had clearly taken a liking to Yuffie, as shown by his refusal to break away from her. Not that Cid was complaining, though. Last thing he needed was that stupid dog slobbering all over him. Matt appeared to be a husky, as evidenced by his pointy ears that stuck straight up, striking eyes and the black splotches all over his fur.

Eventually the two of them who were still conscious made it back to the inn, where Cid brought Cloud back to his room to sleep it off. The three of them had been inside the Sunken Gelnika, fighting off the unknown creatures in there to train before the final battle. Yuffie had decided to tag along, stating that she knew the best way to make them all stronger.

"I got the Morph Materia!" Yuffie had flashed the other two her traditional grin, holding the tiny yellow orb up. "Let's see if we can turn anyone into anything good. Remember the Master Tonberries and the ribbons?"

After Cloud got knocked out hard by an Unknown, the group had decided to hightail it back to the surface to rest and restock their supplies. They ran from the floating pink horse skull like the wimps they admittedly were and boarded their own submarine, and the rest was history.

Yuffie skipped around, happier than a Chocobo eating its favorite food, Matt trailing behind her. "I got a doggy! I got a doggy!"

The commotion had caused Nanaki to look up from where he laid on the ground near the inn, opening his one good eye. Clearly, the fiery beast had been woken up from a nap. He was close enough that he could see Yuffie having a blast, but far enough that Matt wasn't visible and what Yuffie was saying was inaudible to him. He turned to Cid, who was returning from his great quest to bring Cloud inside.

"What's all the commotion about?" It was a bit weird to hear an inhuman creature like him talking, much less fluently, but the team had grown used to it at this point.

"Yuffie got a dog," was Cid's exhausted reply.

"Oh," Nanaki went back to resting his chin on the ground, tail lazily flicking as he closed his eye again. He was too tired for this, and his hind paw was sprained.

"She named 'im Matt." Cid continued, "For Materia."

Nanaki did not seem fazed in the slightest. "I would be more concerned if she didn't."

At this point, Yuffie ran up to Nanaki. Of course Matt was by her side. _Of course_. "Hey Red! I got a dog! His name's Matt!"

"Yes, Yuffie, I heard," Nanaki did not open his eye or move from his position. "As did everyone else in Junon."

Yuffie didn't seem to notice Nanaki's deadpan tone and general uncaring nature about Matt. If she did, though, she didn't seem to care. "Can you communicate with him? Do you know what type of dog he is? _Are you secretly brothers?!_"

"It's a dog, Yuffie," Cid momentarily paused as he lit up his first cigarette since the arrival of Matt, "not a dinosaur."

"You're no fun," Yuffie pouted. At this point, Matt had started sniffing Nanaki's fur, taking in his scent. The small husky yapped once he was done, deciding that Nanaki was cool to be around. The red beast did not look at or react to Matt, instead keeping his attention on his two teammates.

"How many of the others know about Matt?" Nanaki asked. At least _he _was referring to Matt by name at this point.

Yuffie's chirpy response was "Just the three of us! But doncha all worry! This good boy's gonna be part of our big, happy family and no one can tell me otherwise!"

Cid took a drag of his cigarette. Definitely gonna need a beer for this. Matt seemed to be dropping bits of his fur with every step he took; it was a wonder why the dog wasn't bald yet. Somehow Cid inhaled fur, and he sneezed rather violently, scaring the daylights out of Nanaki and Yuffie. Huskies had far too much hair for his liking.

"Are you alright?" Nanaki asked. The Junon townspeople wandered past the group without even a side glance. They'd been here one too many times to warrant stares from people now. This was probably the most normal conversation they'd been partaking in all week, actually.

"Yeah, just –" Cid stopped to sneeze again, "damn allergies."

"I didn't know you were allergic to anything," Nanaki said.

"Me neither. Then the damn dog came around," here Cid vaguely gestured to where the husky had been, "and now lookit me."

"You still look like a cranky old man to me," Yuffie teased.

"Shut up."

Nanaki finally opened his good eye again and looked around. "…Where is Matt?"

This got the attention of Cid and Yuffie.

"What the hell?"

"Matt? Mattie?!" Yuffie called out, standing up and cupping her hands over her mouth. It was around this point that Cid realized the Venus Gospel was missing from where he'd unceremoniously dropped it before taking Cloud to the inn. Yuffie gasped and ran off. The pilot turned his gaze to the direction she went to and –

"What the hell!" He stood up at lightning speed, snuffing out his cigarette as he saw Matt running off, Venus Gospel in his mouth, like it was the world's biggest stick. Cid quickly joined Yuffie on the quest to get the spear back as Nanaki sighed, going back to sleep.

The days were going to be long with that damn dog around…


End file.
